Does the end justify the means? Some considerations on the neutral moral action

Abstract

This article aims to show, first, how proportionalists have thought that exterior action is neutral from a moral point of view. Therefore, their theories could be interpreted as an attempt to establish a foundation for the principle that claims that “the end justifies the means”, although not in the sense that it would authorize any evil action that has already been recognized as evil, but in the sense that the goodness of the whole action comes from the end to which it is related. Secondly, the article presents Aquinas’s view of neutral moral actions to enlighten the understanding of the exterior action. On the basis of his view it is possible to conclude that the exterior action can be analyzed from a moral perspective, for morality is an essential aspect that remains even when the exterior action is analyzed apart from its end.

Key words: end, moral object, intention, choice, exterior action.